Tea at Trianon: False Comfort

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

False Comfort

As far as the abuse crisis goes, we need action. We are given lots of words but the People of God are tired of empty words! All that Church leaders need to do is make certain that those responsible for unspeakable crimes are handed over to the civil authorities. Is that asking too much? And then make sure that not a single incident of abuse ever happens again. The bishops then need to lead us in prayer and reparation for the diabolic outrages visited upon our Faith by our own shepherds.

From Joseph Sciambra at First Things:

For a while, I wrestled with the Catechism and with God. I came to realize that homosexual activity is wrong. I could see the destructive nature of gay sex in my own shattered body. But I couldn’t accept that, during all those years I had spent in a far country, my suffering had been in vain—that countless gay men had died for nothing, that we had all succumbed to a lie. Yet we had. In my era, some heard the lie through popular culture, in the strains of “Y.M.C.A.,” which promised male camaraderie for those brave enough to follow Madonna and “Express Yourself.”

The superficially caring and compassionate priests I had met in my youth in fact had done nothing to help me. Instead of telling me the truth—that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered—they patted me on the back and sent me on my way. Instead of calling me to celibacy and encouraging me to live a chaste life, they left me as they found me: confused. The words of these priests, spoken to a young man with very little faith, allowed that man to remain in mortal sin for years, unrepentant and separated from God. (Read more.)

From Maggie Gallagher at USA Today:

How does it feel to be Catholic this week? Disgusted, ashamed, angry, betrayed and also dirty. Because as much as I would like to separate myself from the filth, to love the Catholic faith means I cannot. As repulsed as I am, these men are leaders of my church and we are united by baptism — one weak and wounded body.

So why am I still Catholic?

Here’s the most important reason: Because I think it’s true.

It’s true that in a world that today as in the past is full of injustice, fear, pain, illness, betrayal and suffering and which ends everywhere inevitably in death, God sent his only Son to die for our sins. To show us that redemption is possible. To prove that evil does not rule. To show us that what we can see is not all that there is. And I believe it’s true that His Son Jesus left behind not a book but a church. He told us to eat his body and drink his blood, to baptize, and to marry one person and stay faithful to that person until death do us part. In doing so he told us that love is real, and it is the fundamental order of creation. Death where is thy sting? (Read more.)

Fr. Altier speaks. A must-listen. Judgment begins in the house of God. The Church is being purified for her Crucifixion.

And Fr. Anthony Amato speaks, HERE.

But the Bride of Christ will prevail. From Return to Order:

"Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Her” (Matt. 16:18). To this first promise, Our Lord added a second: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Thus did Jesus Christ establish the One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, sealing Her immortality with His divine guarantee. The violence of the storm currently assailing the Church would likely bring down many a human institution, but not the institution supported by God’s own promises. The Church’s enemies try with all their might to defame and dishonor Her. They hurl mud and muck, but they fail to sully Her.

They declare that She cannot survive the scandals perpetrated within and against Her, but their words ring with the uncertainty that it will indeed be so. Confronted with the silent testimony of history, they know by experience that the Church is both holy and immortal. Nothing stains Her, not even infamy rising from Her ranks, for She is the spotless Bride of Christ. Even at the height of His passion—when the insults against His Divine Person, the wounds inflicted on His Sacred Body, and His public humiliation had reached their apex—the Word of God Incarnate lost none of the grandeur in His moral profile. (Read more.)